R.U.S.E Move Impressions

While we've already seen what Ubisoft's upcoming WWII-themed strategy game R.U.S.E. looks like when played on a $20,000 touch-screen table, the setup is far beyond the monetary reach of mere mortals. The cheaper alternative is to use Sony's motion controller Move, which Sony announced would be supported at this year's Electronic Entertainment Expo. We sat down with the game's senior producer, Mathieu Girard, for a look at how the controller handles.

What's New: Though Move support was added to R.U.S.E. long after development was under way, it has been tightly integrated into the game's mechanics. The Move controller acts as a pointer, allowing you to highlight a group of troops, issue commands to them, or navigate menus in much the same way a mouse is used in PC real-time strategy games. Gestures have also been implemented; a swift swipe to right of the screen brings up the menu where you can select your troops with the pointer or via the analogue stick on the navigation controller. Zooming also gets the gesture treatment, where pushing toward the screen zooms into the map, while pulling backward zooms out. The light-up ball doesn't get left out of the action either; it turns red when you're hovering over enemy troops and green when selecting your own. Most commands can be performed using just the main controller, though Girard informed us that the navigation controller makes some commands easier to access, giving you quick shortcuts to the most frequently used ones.

What's the Same: R.U.S.E. still looks as great as ever, allowing you to sweep effortlessly from high-level battle-top views to detailed animations of your troops in the heat of battle. There's also a lot of game on offer, with a 15-hour single-player campaign, 20 maps, online play, and a vast array of unit types from which to choose. Though controls have been simplified and tweaked for the console versions, Girard assured us that R.U.S.E will still be a fully featured RTS, complete with a level of depth on par with the best on the PC.

What Impression the Game Made This Time: Though we weren't able to get hands-on time with the Move, from what we saw, it has been well integrated into the game. The gesture and pointer controls seem like a natural fit for an RTS, adding a level of fluidity that sometimes is lacking when using a standard pad. Zooming, menu, and swiping gestures all appeared to work accurately, without having to repeat motions to get commands to register. It remains to be seen how well the controls will work over long periods of play, particularly given the lengthy campaign matches that can take hours to complete. We asked Girard if Kinect support would be coming to the game, but sadly, it looks like Xbox 360 users will have to make do with the standard pad. He told us that it had been looked into, but given the issues Kinect has with players sitting down, it would be too tiring for them to stand up for the long periods of time matches can take.